Ah, so you’ve decided you want to be a motoring journalist. After all, doesn’t the life of driving cars for a living sound like a fun one?
Well, it is – but it’s not quite as straightforward as waltzing up to a magazine and getting a job. It’s a tricky and very small industry to get into.
If you’re set on making a living in the trade of reviewing cars and want some advice though, we’ve put together a guide to help you make it happen.
So, where should I start?
In a time before many of us already in the industry got into it, and certainly before any of us Car Throttle staffers, the usual route of motoring journalism was to ply your trade in news journalism and hope to wangle your way into an automotive publication.
That’s still a viable route, but there are so many more ways to make yourself known in the industry now – you can thank the internet for that.
If there’s one bit of advice to offer, it’s to just create content however you can. Start your own blog, create short-form features and videos on social media, start a YouTube channel… you get the point. If you’re dead set on becoming a full-time motoring journalist, having a portfolio of content under your belt will always help your case and give you something to shout about.
You too could eventually have bespoke shots in a VW van
Make sure you shout about it, too. Get yourself on LinkedIn, and email publications with your work asking why they should consider you for opportunities – be it freelance or as a staffer, or even just for a little work experience. Be prepared for rejection too, but don’t give up and always ask for constructive feedback. It only takes one editor to take a chance on you.
If you want to polish your skills as well, there’s even the dedicated Automotive Journalism MA course at Coventry University. Our very own Mike Bartholomew is a graduate, and he’s turned out just about okay.
I think I know a lot about cars. Is that enough?
Simply knowing a lot about cars may not be enough to make it as a motoring journalist. It’s something a lot of us have had an awakening to – you go from being *the* car person in your group to competing with people with decades more of knowledge under their belt.
Find your niche though, and use that to your advantage. It doesn’t matter what it is – be it modified JDM stuff, EVs, classic Porsches, engineering explainers, or whatever it is you choose – if you can create compelling, original stories, you’re going to stand out. There are a hundred journalists out there who could tell you how good a new car is, so it’s always worth striving to be the person who can tell a story nobody else can.
It doesn’t have to be about driving new cars
Do I need to be able to drive fast?
It helps if you’ve got some skill behind the wheel, but it’s really not that crucial. There are plenty of people who can drive fast yet can’t put two words together – it’s more important to be able to communicate how a car feels, as long as you can drive safely and competently. Be that at the limit or 20mph. People within the industry remember those who crash a car more than those who can really send one, and not for the better.
You really don’t need to know how to drift either, no matter what years of watching Top Gear or reading performance car mags may have you think. In many cases, the people writing the words aren’t the ones power-sliding cars in those glossy photos you see in mags.
You’ll never suit a helmet, either
I’m ready to review something. Can I ask for a Porsche 911 GT3 now?
Well, technically you can ask, but good luck. Press cars are an idyllic thing on paper – someone delivers you a car for a week or so with a full tank of fuel, you can drive around in it as much as you’d like, and then someone picks it up again.
Understandably though, it’s really not as easy as just calling up a manufacturer and asking for a car, at least not when you’re first starting out.
If you’re working for a publication, it’s easier but there’s almost certainly an established hierarchy when you get your foot in the door. Someone else will be telling you what you’re driving and it’s more likely these will be mid-life facelift family crossovers than a 911 GT3. Approach those with the same enthusiasm though, and you’ll be golden in the long run.
It’s harder still if you’re going solo. Manufacturers won’t just send cars to anybody, you’ll need to establish a relationship with the press office and have a proven audience to show them it’s worthwhile giving you a car.
Even your own car could hold an interesting story
Our advice? Don’t go chasing press cars, at least not early on. Create content on your own car, borrow a friend’s or family member’s, or get cosy with a local car dealer.
Once you have an audience, then you can go to a manufacturer, and it’s better done in person if possible. If you can show you’ve got enough eyes on your content, get yourself along to SMMT’s Test Day, an industry event attended by manufacturers and journalists. It’s a good chance to go face-to-face with PRs and even get a little bit of seat time in new cars.
Will I make a lot of money?
No. Sorry.
There’s a very small handful of journalists who get rich, but the reality is none of us are actually making *lots* of money. It’s just part of the supply and demand of the industry.
That’s not to say you won’t be able to make a comfortable salary, but you’ve got to be prepared to accept that you’ll often test cars well beyond your own means. If you get really good, maybe you can earn enough to flip a new 911 GT3 RS, though.
Is it really as glamorous as it looks on Instagram?
Ah, you’ve seen journalists on the internet posting their latest European excursion to drive a convertible in the glorious Spanish countryside. Sorry to say that’s only a small snippet of what actually goes on in the job.
This was a pleasant day, to be fair
Most of your days will be spent at a desk typing out words on a Google Doc and making sure it’s SEO-optimised. If you are out on a shoot, it’s often stood in a cold field or car park somewhere in the UK.
When you do get to go abroad for a car launch, you’ll spend more time travelling than not, in all honesty. It’s usually airport, flight, land, drive a car to hotel, eat food, sleep, drive a different car back to the airport via a scenic route, flight, go home. 95 per cent of the time, the job is just that – a job.
Why do it then?
Because this job is fun. I really hope I haven’t put any of you off while reading through this.
For all the work it takes to get there, you get to do one of the coolest ways of making money. Hand on heart, there’s little more rewarding in life than being able to tell stories about your biggest passion on a daily basis.
It’s that five per cent that makes everything worth it. In my near-eight years in the industry, I’ve been lucky enough to experience some incredible things and call it all work.
To name just a few, those include drifting a Honda Civic Type R on a frozen lake in Lapland, taking on a Welsh rally stage in a Bowler Defender, hammering around Portimao in a BMW M8, spend an afternoon living my Gran Turismo dreams with a Mitsubishi Evo VI TME and even get to drive a real, proper TCR race car.
Lamborghini Revuelto – driving
I know that sounds self-fellating but the reality is, most of us in the industry can say we’ve done much of this and more. You can too, if you put the work in and really set your mind on making motoring journalism a career.
If you do, see you soon on a crammed Spanish airport transfer bus.
